Pollen a pox on allergy sufferers

COEUR d'ALENE - Allergy season will soon be in full sneeze.

Grass pollen has started to rear its ugly head for allergy sufferers, even though current levels in Coeur d'Alene are low.

Grass pollen, which can't be seen with the naked eye, should be around until mid-July, with a couple peaks between now and then.

"That's what's mostly getting people right now," said Jennifer Watson, a nurse practitioner for Asthma and Allergy of Idaho, in Coeur d'Alene. "That seems to be our big allergy trigger."

Pollen from weeds won't be causing trouble until August.

"I don't think (allergy season) is really earlier than last year," she said, despite the warm spring.

She said tree pollen, while at higher levels currently, should be lower compared with April.

Nearly all of the tree pollen right now is from pine trees, she said. Fortunately, few people are allergic to pine tree pollen.

Others feeling the effect of allergies right now might be reacting to mold spores, which are at high levels, she said.

What to do about allergies?

Watson said, "Avoidance is helpful, but not easy."

Staying indoors in an air-controlled environment all day isn't often realistic.

She recommends that kids and adults who are outside all day change their clothes when they get home and take a shower before going to bed to wash the pollen off.

Over-the-counter medications can be helpful, she said.

But she recommended people get tested and consider immunotherapy, a series of injections given over time to suppress immune response to pollen.